The rotary engine was a radical departure from the standard piston-driven engine; but despite its advantages, it never really took off and is now relegated to the dustbin of history.
Mazda is the company most associated with the rotary engine, and before the oil crises of the 1970s and the strengthening of emission laws, it was considered by many to be the next big thing in automotive engineering.
The engine simply did not live up to its hype, and Mazda eventually phased it out in 2012 with the last RX-8.
The rotary engine was actually not invented by Mazda but by Felix Wankel, a German engineer with no formal training. According to Marcus Popplow in his book Felix Wankel: more than an inventor’s life, Wankel was such an ardent Nazi that even the other ardent Nazi’s were afraid of him.
According to Jalopnik, a car enthusiast website, Wankel was a “nutjob” who was actually kicked out of the Nazi party twice for his extreme antisemitism. Considering the history of the Holocaust, Wankel may have been an idiot savant, but an idiot none-the-less.
Wankel patented his engine in 1954, but it would take another decade for the engine to be placed into a mass production vehicle when Mazda unveiled the Cosmo in 1967.
Rather than using pistons, the Wankel engine has a triangular rotor that is housed in an oval shaped casing. When the rotor rotates, air pockets are created and when gasoline and a spark are introduced, it creates combustion.
Having fewer moving parts, the engines were lighter and just as powerful as a V-8; however, there were downsides.
The rotor had to be lubricated, so oil was pumped into the casing and the engine not only burned oil, but it also did not fully burn all of the gasoline in the chamber which led to loud backfires that sounded thrilling.
The Wankel engine was loud and could tear up asphalt garnering it a cult following. The Achilles heel was that the engine was not very fuel efficient and tended to belch smoke, much to the dismay of the EPA.
The American Motors Corporation planned to use the Wankel concept in the AMC Pacer. The engine was being developed by a subsidiary of General Motors and AMC planned to purchase the engines from GM until they could develop their own working model.
However, GM abruptly pulled out of the deal in 1974, just before AMC was planning to unveil the Pacer and AMC had to scramble and ended up shoehorning in a six-cylinder that left the Pacer underpowered.
What was touted as the “car of the future” turned out to be a wide, heavy upside down fish bowl on wheels that was only produced for five model years.
Mazda continued to include the engine in its RX series, but emission laws finally nailed the coffin closed, or sorta.
The engine was reintroduced in the 2023 Mazda MX-30 crossover hybrid EV. The vehicle is severely limited in production, currently sold only in California, and no one should expect performance as the revamped Wankel is only used to extend the range of the batteries.
As for me, I will stick with the trusty V-6 in my Chevy Camaro…See you on the road!
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
